If Washington's accusations are true then that would be funny considering it used to be America that trained and armed the Taliban. They did that to prevent Russia conquering the country but then when the invasion it ended completely fucking up the place since the Talibans are tablet-thumpers.
BUT then again, maybe things wouldn't have been better if Russia was just allowed to invade and annex Afghanistan. It could still be fucked up (though we know Russia would have likely not tolerated fundamentalists).
Sigh "the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must," still hold true. Afghanistan was just a board where powers played.
Let me remind you that the Russians lost the war in Afghanistan. I think that Russians remember about it and will never agree to walk into Afghanistan. Besides, you are exaggerating the role and opportunities of Russia.
It was not called "graveyard of empires" for nothing. The terrain makes it hard to conquer and even harder to hold. Even NATO had a hard time putting it in order. Still the Russians dared enter it. I still think it was possible for the Russians to gain control of, at least the urban areas, had Americans not intervened.
The sad thing though was the group America supported to stave of the invasion were fundamentalists down to the marrow. We all saw what happened when the war ended and these people came to power. When I see old pictures from Afghanistan, I still find it hard to believe a country can be turned back into pre-industry so quickly.